Over the past few months I have been slowly falling in love with ActiveRain. The first time I have ever came across this real estate network, I did not know what to make of it. I did not join ActiveRain right away because I did not feel there was a place for me. I had no interest renewing my real estate license and was under impression the network is reserved to real estate professionals exclusively. I am not sure why I had this perception, but after joining ActiveRain I quickly realized that this community is very open minded and most importantly not limited to real estate agents exclusively.

However in this article I would like to point out that real estate professionals can probably benefit the most from ActiveRain. And here are just few points why.

• Blogging. Every member upon joining the community is given their own blog. If you were thinking to start blogging yet was not sure you were ready to invest resources and time into it, ActiveRain blogs is a place where you can try to “wet your feet” as far as blogging is concerned. While their blogs may not offer all the bells and whistles that you can normally get when hosting a blog on your own domain. It does offer the basics and can get you started.
• Instant Audience. One of the best part about blogging on ActiveRain is that you have an instant audience for your blog. Even a newbie to ActiveRain like myself can often get 10+ comments on their initial posts. To me the most rewarding part of blogging is an audience that is engaged.
• Networking. As I am writing this post there are 108,851 members on ActiveRain. My guess that majority of the members are real estate professionals or working in the field closely related to real estate. If you ask me that is an impressive number of members!
• ActiveRain’s Popularity. Before joining any online community or forum, I am always trying to look at the “popularity factor”. The more popular certain website is, the better chance to gain some extra visitors to my own websites. According to statistics from Alexa and Compete (see the charts below) ActiveRain is outranking Inman by quite a margin:
  
  Click on the image below to see detailed statistics on Alexa:
  
  
  Click on the image below to see detailed statistics on Compete:
  
• ActiveRain Referrals- a place to share and find referrals posted by other ActiveRain members. If you are on a “hunt” for leads, why not to browse referrals by other agents rater than spending money on lead generating schemes?

To conclude, I simply would like to repeat my earlier statement- I am slowly falling in love with ActiveRain. I am also confident you will appreciate ActiveRain as well. If you are already a member, visit my profile page and add me to your associates, I would love to connect with you on ActiveRain.

AgentRank is attempting to rank real estate agents based on professional experience, home sales, endorsement from former clients and other variables.

The founders of the AgentRank are very clear that rankings can not be manipulated and if you want to rank well in their system all you need to do is to sell homes and keep your clients happy. One of the factors that will affect agent’s rankings is based on whether or not the agent publishes a blog. Hopefully it will encourage agents using the system to start their own blog.

Out of curiosity I used the system to search for the real estate agents in my area. I found 7 agents, whose rank varied from 8 to 1. I presuming that 10 is the most an agent can be ranked at.

While I did not find any familiar faces, few things about AgentRank system jumped at me. While claiming to rank real estate agents based on endorsements from former clients, there is no mechanism for that if you would like to endorse an agent you worked with in the past. Since some of the agents do have endorsements at AgentRank, it leaves me to think that these endorsements are completely under control of individual agents.

While one agent on the list is in the real estate for 230 years- a clear advantage as far as rankings are concerned based on professional experience.

To provide unbiased ranking can be a difficult task. I learning that from my attempt of ranking real estate blogs. So I am sure AgentRank is working hard to improve their website and it’s features.

At the end of the day you have nothing to loose when you decide to join AgentRank. The membership is free and you will get some extra exposure and a link to your blog. You can also follow AgentRank Blog for further news and developments. Feel free to come back and share your experience with AgentRank.

Figuratively speaking of course…

Many of you know that I have been involved in a project 100 Top Real Estate Blogs. Again, 100- figuratively speaking. If you visited the listed lately you probably know that there are more than100 blogs on the list.

If you blog about real estate and related issues, feel free to submit your blog. I know that this list was criticized quiet a bit for using unreliable statistics. While we attempt to rank your blog, it is not the ranking that matters. It is an extra exposure your blog will get. By submitting your blog, you get a link and we ask nothing in return.

To “make in” for the next update, all blogs must be submitted by 6:00 PM (Eastern Time) tomorrow (April 13).

Fizber announced today introduction of API (Application Programing Interface). Very smart use by Fizber I must add. If marketed properly this can explode in new widgets, just like the one you see to the right.

It would be interesting to see this development. At this early stage Fizber APIs will allow web masters to pull in the data about climate, schools, unemployment some other general neighborhood information.

Julia Foster, Fizber.com VP of marketing, in a low key press release was quoted say: “This new API access is going to be a useful tool for every agent and site that wants to offer something special in their real estate portfolio.”

I personally think many web masters should pay attention to this development. It also should be as warning sign to many of the local MLSs. Instead of fighting real estate agents over stupid trademark use, why don’t you guys pay attention and develop the API for your own members.

When I came across RealBird Listing Widget on Wallingford Wired Blog, it immediately grabbed my attention. It is not a secrete that many real estate gents can be very protective of their listing. If you don’t believe me, read the blog post by Greg Swann about a listing that was not his own.

I can’t blame Realtors for being overprotective about their listings. You don’t want your inventory to be misrepresented. However, at the same time many real estate websites have their local Multiple Listing System integrated into their websites so when visitor searches for the property, he can browse through hundreds of listings without leaving the website. Of course this can result in a lead where you can work as a seller’s agent on a property that you did not list.

But what about offering an opportunity just to any webmaster to “advertise” for you for free? Going back to Wayne and Pat, below is an example of a listing served via Realird.com Listing Widget I was able to grab right from their blog:

Why would you consider RealBrid.com? Simple. Viral marketing. There are many bloggers like myself that are on the constant lookout for good content for their blog. This can create an exponential exposure for you listing.